Students rally to back Alien Minors Act
Javier Manzano © The Rocky


By Fernando Quintero, Rocky Mountain News
March 8, 2007
When 16-year-old David Mendez, of Denver, attended last year's Peace Jam, he asked Costa Rican President Oscar Arias what he thought of a proposal to give legal status to children of illegal immigrants who graduate from high school.
"He said he supported it. That's when I decided I had to fight for it," said Mendez, a Lincoln High School junior who attended the Denver event that brought together Nobel Peace Prize winners with youths from around the world.

Mendez was among of group of students and community organizers who gathered Wednesday to support the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, introduced in the U.S. House and Senate this past week.

Three other efforts to pass the bill have failed.

"Everybody should be able to have an education and have a chance to fulfill their dreams," said Mendez, a National Honor Society member who holds the third-highest position in the local region's junior ROTC program and dreams of becoming an officer in the U.S. military.

Each year, an estimated 65,000 students brought as children to the United States by their illegal immigrant parents graduate from public high schools, according to the nonpartisan Urban Institute in Washington, D.C.
Although they are legally entitled to a K-12 public education, they can attend a public college if they pay out-of-state tuition, which in Colorado is three to five times higher than resident tuition.

They are ineligible for state or federal financial aid.

Those who can afford the higher tuition still cannot legally work here because of their immigration status.

The proposed legislation would give high school graduates temporary legal status, and it would allow them to qualify for legal permanent status when they attend college or when they serve in the military.
Stan Weekes, director of the Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform, has been a longtime opponent of the proposal.

"It's basically a violation of federal law to provide in-state tuition to illegal aliens," Weekes said.

"Under U.S. law, illegal aliens may not hold a job in the U.S.

"Tax dollars expended on higher education for illegal aliens to prepare them for professional careers only draws more illegal aliens to those states offering in-state tuition."

Several states - including Texas, New York and California - have passed legislation allowing these students to enroll in public colleges at the cheaper in-state tuition rates.

Similar bills were introduced in Colorado, but failed.

Cesar Ramos, a junior at Montbello High School, said that his 3.6 GPA is "worthless" if the DREAM Act fails again.

"Some of my friends have lost motivation about going to college," he said.

"Before, they used to fill out applications and they also were very smart students, but now they just ditch classes and don't do any work because they know they can't go to college." (Bull. !!!)

Antwan Wilson, principal at Montbello High School in Denver, spoke in favor of the proposal at a news conference at North Presbyterian Church in Denver.

The news conference was sponsored by Padres y Jovenes Unidos and the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition.

Wilson said he has seen too many students like Ramos' friends.

"As an educator, it hurts to see promising young students give up because they feel there's no future for them," Wilson said.

Mendez, who immigrated to the United States with his family when he was 9, has bet his future on the passage of the national bill.

"If the DREAM Act does not pass, my career, my future would go down," he said.

"It would make me sad to have to go to another country to go on with my life."
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/l ... 94,00.html
quinterof@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5250